Police have confirmed the identity of a 20-year-old man fatally shot by a border patrol agent near the Sumas crossing.
Jamison Childress, whom police identified as a murder suspect on the run, tried to slip into Washington State at around 2:30 p.m. Thursday, according to the Whatcom Country Sherriff’s office.
Border guards were alerted by a sensor activation and said when they came across Childress, he was acting erratically.
Police say Childress then got into a struggle with a U.S. border agent and sprayed the agent’s eyes with some sort of irritant.
That prompted the agent to open fire, fatally striking Childress in the head, according to police.
The only item officers found on him was a backpack with a hatchet inside
Whatcom County Sherriff Bill Elfo did not confirm Childress’ nationality, but said he was a fugitive in a murder investigation.
“Our preliminary findings reveal that this person is wanted for a murder that occurred in another jurisdiction,” Elfo said.
A search of B.C. court records shows various charges laid against Jamison Edward Childress in 2013 and 2014, including theft of $5,000 or under, mischief and assault.
Childress was reoprtedly due to appear in court in Prince George Friday but did not appear.
None of the charges are related to homicide. Police have not identified the murder that Childress was wanted for.
A Facebook profile belonging to a Jamison Childress appears to have connections to Fraser Lake, B.C., where some of the charges were laid.
Two agents who were involved in the shooting are on administrative leave.
An investigation is ongoing and details of the case have been shared with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The road where the shooting took place is about 300 metres from the U.S.-Canada border.
The Sumas crossing is about 80 kilometres southeast of Vancouver.
